The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs. Each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometric size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling-down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs. Since feature sizes continue to decrease, fabrication processes continue to become more difficult to perform. Therefore, it is a challenge to form reliable semiconductor devices at smaller and smaller sizes.
In order to form a reliable semiconductor device, it is important to accurately evaluate electro-magnetic (EM) peak current. Therefore, an accurate and reliable peak current evaluation system and method are needed.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.